7.7 dribbles per 90: Should Birmingham City sign this Premier League player on a permanent deal? | OneFootball

Onel Hernandez has been putting in some fine performances for Birmingham City since joining the club on loan in January.

In 13 league appearances for the Blues, the Cuban international has started 12 times, scoring 3 goals and registered two assists whilst playing pre-dominantly from the left hand side.

Contrast that to his time at Middlesbrough, where he appeared 17 times, but only started nine of these, scoring just the one goal.

Whoscored ratings are by no means the be all and end all when it comes to performance, but in Hernandez’s case, they highlight just how much better the 29-year-old has been at Birmingham.

At Middlesbrough earlier this season, for example, he had achieved a poor WhoScored rating of 6.39, whilst at Birmingham City, so far, he has registered a WhoScored rating of 6.91.

There has clearly been a vast improvement at Birmingham, then, and given that Blues manager Lee Bowyer has expressed his desire to sign the Cuban permanently in the summer, we thought we’d take a look at some numbers on WyScout to see what it is Hernandez is doing well and also, what he could improve on.

One thing in particular that stands out are his dribbles, with Hernandez undertaking 7.7 per 90 in the Championship this season, with a 67.8% success rate.

Compare that to the likes of Tahith Chong (5.57 dribbles per 90/52.9% success) and Lyle Taylor (1.56 dribbles per 90/60.7% success) and you can see Hernandez is a standout in this area in terms of success rate over Chong and both success and number of dribbles over Taylor.

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Hernandez is also slightly overperforming his expected goals (xG) in the Championship this season, scoring 0.18 goals per 90, with an xG of 0.15 goals per 90.

This is a lower xG than the likes of Scott Hogan (0.45 per 90) and Lyle Taylor (0.28) but given that he has played in a variety of different positions for Birmingham, including left-midfield/left-wing-back, it is perhaps understandable. The main thing is, he is taking the chances when they are coming his way.

One area that Hernandez could certainly improve though, particularly if he is going to be used on the left hand side, is his crossing.

The Cuban averages 3.2 crosses per 90, but with a success rate of just 23.9% accuracy. This means, approximately, that Hernandez is putting four crosses into the box for just one of them to connect with a teammate.

Similarly, his duels are another area that could see an improvement if he is going to be used as a left-midfielder/wing-back.

Hernandez has 24 duels per 90, but wins just 43.3% of these, which if playing in a defensive position on the left, really needs to increase.

All in all, Hernandez is putting up some decent numbers in an attacking sense, but his defensive side could be worked on – understandable given he has always played as a forward in the past.

He has played centre forward, left wing, attacking midfield, and left-wing-back at Birmingham since joining in January, which makes his numbers difficult to assess.

Ultimately, I believe he could be a good signing for Birmingham City this summer, but, I do feel they need to give him a place he can make his own in the team if he is really going to thrive.